How to turn any paper-and-pen scribble into a dynamic Canva icon...

I know the right people will geek out over this one with me 🤪

What do I mean when I say "Canva icon"?

Well, it's like this:

• You can change the icon's color freely -- not just changing the shade of the image
• You can scale it up really large without losing image quality

Have you noticed that when you use elements on Canva some of them follow these rules and some do not? That's the difference between raster and vector images...

A raster is made of pixels. A vector is made of math equations that define its edges. So you can blow it up or change its fill color without losing quality.

What we're really looking for is an SVG file (Scalable Vector Graphic).

I pay for Adobe Illustrator and went though the long and painstaking process of learning how to use it. This is what I use for logo design; it's the most powerful tool to create vector graphics.

BUT: You don't need to use Illustrator to create SVGs of your own. In fact, you can turn your drawings, handwriting, and scribbles into SVGs that you can use on Canva (or other similar tools—keep reading for my Showit hack) for free!

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Here's a step-by-step:

1) Create your art. To use the free tool I found, it will need to be black and white. Use black ink on pure white paper with no lines.

2) Take a picture of your art with your phone. Use natural light and hold your paper flat to avoid shadows. Once you have a good picture, complete the following steps...

• Crop the image to eliminate most of the background
• Tap the photo settings and increase exposure (to get rid of your paper's gray or yellow hue), increase contrast (to make your art's edges sharper), and increase black point (to deepen the color of your art).
• Email or text the file to yourself to get it on your computer.

3) Use this free tool to convert your picture to SVG. Upload it and hit Start. Click the blue link to download it.

4) Upload into Canva and play around!

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Here are a couple creative applications:

• Incorporate bits of your or your congregation's handwriting into your designs.
• Digitize your students' writing or drawings.
• Draw custom religious icons for social media posts or bulletin covers.
• Make your art huge and drop its opacity to create a subtle background texture.
• Create an SVG version of your signature for marking up PDFs or certificates.

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IYKYK: If you're a Showit user, you can create your own custom icon components. Go to this site, upload your SVG, hit "Markup" along the top, copy the code, and paste it into your custom icon block.

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If you give this a try, send me the results! I'd love to see 😍

Until next week,